Recently, flat display devices have been actively developed. Among others, liquid crystal display devices have attracted an attention due to their advantages such as lightness, thinness, and low power consumption. In particular, noteworthy configurations for an active matrix type liquid crystal display device incorporating a switching element in each pixel are those using a lateral electric field (including a fringe electric field) such as an IPS (In-Plane Switching) mode and FFS (Fringe Field Switching) mode. The liquid crystal display device in the lateral electric field mode includes pixel electrodes and counter electrodes formed in an array substrate, and performs switching of liquid crystal molecules using the lateral electric filed substantially parallel with a principal surface of the array substrate.
On the other hand, there has been also proposed a technique of performing switching of the liquid crystal molecules by forming a lateral electric field or an oblique electric field between the pixel electrode formed on the array substrate and the counter electrode.